Hamon and Queso de Bola!

Posted: December 23rd, 2009 — 2 Comments

Keeping Traditions alive

Every Christmas, it is a must that you serve hamon and queso de bola on your table. One of the popular ham in the Philippines are ‘Majestic Ham’ or ‘Excelente Ham.’ Well these two where the only hamon I knew growing up. We usually fried it ’til crisp and stuff it in a hot pan de sal with Edam cheese or we just serve it during breakfast with sunny side up and sinangag (fried rice). For people on the go, just simply microwave and it’s good to go. I highly recommend that you fry it. It taste so much better with all that extra oil and crisp fat that surrounds the meat!!! *drooling uncontrollably…mapping the floor right now. and as for edam cheese, Filipinos only trust Marca Piña Queso de Bola.

HAMON?

HAMON (from the Spanish jamón) is the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especially a hog. It is usually cured in salt and sugar and other spices.

Majestic Ham. Traditionally cured in oak barrels, smoked with aromatic wood, aged for full flavor, cooked in selected spices. Majestic Ham Inc. was established in 1956 by Victoriano and his wife Donnie. In 1985, Fernando Pedrosa and his partners bought the Salvador’s share holdings in the company. However, this did not compromised the quality of Majestic Ham’s products, as the new owners remained committed to the very traditions and techniques that uniquely is Majestic’s very own, set almost 90 years ago.

Excelente Ham. A Chinese ham that is sold in a small stall in Carriedo, Palanca st, Quiapo. Be sure to order it in advance or before holiday seasons. It gets pretty crowded in this area during those times. Can’t find any info about it’s history. For more info and mouth watering images visit Gita Asuncion’s blog or Gourmand Tales’ blog.

Queso de Bola?

Queso de bola (ball of cheese) is a term used by Filipino for Edam Cheese. It is a Dutch cheese in a spherical shape (usually slightly flattened at the top and bottom) and coated with red wax. With its festive appearance, it is a favorite during Noche Buena.

According to an article by Bibsy Carballo of Inquirer, Marca Piña Queso de Bola was especially made for Filipinos. He got an invitation from Willy Lambengco of Wilmington Imex, the Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Manila Chapter, cheese master Erik Boas and executive chef Gene Gonzalez of Café Ysabel which uncovered volumes of interesting facts unknown to most. He did an interview with Boas and here are some excerpts from his original article (see below).

“Boas, Friesland Campina’s sales export manager for Asia, says his company produces the Marca Piña Queso de Bola only for the Philippines, as it is especially made for the Filipino palate: around 250 million kgs are exported to the Philippines each year – a drop, really, in the bucket of a company of 70,000 member farmers producing 11.7 billion kilograms of dairy products.”

To read the original article click here.

Plan ‘Noche Buena’ complete!

Bought my first ‘Majestic Ham’ today! I was only able to buy the half-leg ham, since the whole one cost like PhP 4,000.00+ I am dying to have a slice right now and just stuffed it in a pan de sal! *wipes drool* I always wanted to serve this in our Noche Buena, but only got the chance this year to buy one. And since my mom is here this Christmas, by hook or by crook I’m gonna have my hamon! You see, we rarely get to spend Christmas with her and my dad, so as much as possible when they get to visit Philippines I try my best to go spend my weekends with them. You could say that I’m a prodigal daughter trying her best now as an adult to make-up for her past childish actions.

Anyway Enough about that! I want to wish all of you and your families a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Toys ASIDE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.